The mission of the Iowa Science
Teachers Section of the Iowa
Academy of Science is to advocate
for excellence in science education
by promoting professionalism,
influencing policy, and enhancing learning.

The mission of the Iowa Academy of Science is to further scientific research and its dissemination, education in the sciences, public understanding of science, and recognition of excellence in these endeavors.

November 14, 1998 - Executive Board Meeting
April 25, 1998 - Membership & Executive Board Meeting

Final Approved Minutes of the Fall ISTS Executive Board Meeting
Nov. 14, 1998
Colony Haus, Amana Exit, Interstate 35

Agenda

President Lyn Countryman called the meeting to order at 8:45 AM.

Members present included; Lyn Countryman (President), Kären Wignall (Past-president and Fall Conference Chair), Bev Iverson (Treasurer), Kathy Lockard (Regional Director of AEA 14), Sharon Johnston (Regional Director of AEA 5), Bob DeLoss (Earth Science Section Chair), Sue Ervin, Tom Ervin (Corporate Funding Chair), Mark Brockmeyer, Darrel Hoff (Regional Director AEA 1), Ross Iverson (Regional Director AEA 6), Terry Coleman (Regional Director AEA 10 and Fall Conference Facilities Chair), Aaron Spurr, Sara Coleman, Karen Couch Brietbach (Regional Director AEA 7 and ISTS Newsletter Editor), Jeff Hepburn (President Elect), Tony Heiting (DOE Science Consultant), Brenda Jordan (IAS Administrative Assistant), and Erica Larson (Secretary).

I. Approval of Executive Meeting Minutes - Spring Mtg. 98

Corrections to the minutes were to correct the spelling of Tom ERVIN on the second page. Remove Mark Brockmeyer name from Facilities Chair and correct the spelling of Kathy McKee. Clarify the section under Special award as the discussion resulted in the fact that members who feel John Dunkhase deserves an award for all he has done for Science Education in Iowa were encouraged to nominate him individually. Ross moved to accept the minutes as corrected, Kären seconded. Minutes approved as corrected.

II. Treasurer's Report - Bev Iverson brought a handout and an overhead. As of 11/5 we have $58,743.47 as total inflow, total outflow $21,757.27, with an additional amount to be recorded. Overall Total $36,986.20. Compared to budget...registration was above anticipated, exhibitors above, sales above. More in expenses from the Fall Conference are still coming in these need to be taken care of by the end of Nov. In checking right now there is $57,604.45 with about $15,000 worth of bills to be paid. Mark had questions about the retreat line item. Brenda Jordan reported that the Academy provides up to $1000 for this, anything over we cover. Kären said Dave McCalley asked that we show this $1000 as income on our budget. Brenda said she just cuts a check from the IAS, Lyn asked Brenda if we should just remove this $1000 line item from our budget. Mark asked a philosophical question, whether the Fall Conference budget should be funding things for the section that our IAS dues cover. Mark also asked about the Awards line item. Bev explained that was for plaques and possible scholarships for Junior IAS. Karen Couch Brietbach asked about the feasibility of keeping two separate budgets: Fall Conference and section, to be able to separate what is covered by the Conference and what is covered by the Academy. Bev explained that if we as an organization want to expand our programs we may not be able to look to IAS for our objectives. Mark reminded us that five years ago he was told repeatedly that we are the Academy and that our responsibility is to go to the Academy Board and say this is how we want our section to operate. This section shouldn't have to subsidize on both ends. Kären said the Academy is trying to get their financial house in order, the question is do we want to wait for that to occur before we move ahead or do we use our funds to move ahead. Mark reminded us that 1/2 the people who attend the Fall Conference are not members of the Academy and they are subsidizing our/Academy programs. Ross added that the ISTS has come to do a conference well and that there are other services to be rendered to the science teacher clientele that are natural outgrowths of the Fall Conference. He would like to see a balance sheet that is nice and clean surrounding the Conference, preferably a one page simple report sheet. Mark suggested we contain the conference and seek corporate funding to support our initiatives. Erica moves and Ross seconds to accept the Treasurer's report. Motion carried.

III. Old Business

A. Fall Conference Reports

1. Program by Kären Wignall

a. Pre conference: 9 sessions with about 20 more participants than in years past. Held at Hotel Ft. Des Moines, with dinner in Grand Ballroom. Kathy McKee ran that program. Registrations paid for all expenses.

b. Post conference: 3 of 4 went. The three sessions that went were well received. Prairie center, Pioneer and Peg Steffens went well. About 70 people attended. Kären discussed doing all day sessions Wednesday to avoid the Friday conflicts.

c. Technology Room: 400 people came and sat down at computers or went into the small sessions. Reaction from people in the room was positive. Direct feedback was passed around.

d. The Civic Center integrating Arts and Sciences component, 8 people attended. Ross shared glowing reports of that experience. It was difficult to find, so some may have missed it due to logistics.

e. Overall Program - Jeff shared tallies of every session to decide how many people were attending sessions..Jeff said it seemed as though sessions were full. Ross shared general comments about the meal...Mark said especially the dessert. Terry shared the no complaints about parking and air conditioning. Kären shared the option of parking in Vets and walking to the Convention Center via the sky walk.

f. Surveys - Lyn shared work study students spent 25 hours tabulating surveys...and she had a report hot off the press. The word questionnaire should be replaced by Survey at the top. The leadership will analyze this data to continue to improve the Fall Conference.

2. Facilities by Terry Coleman. A conscious effort was made to coordinate with the Governor's Conference on Diversity to utilize the same space for the same purposes. Everything was set by 8:30 PM...exhibitors were in by 5:00, which was an 1.5 hours earlier than last year. This worked well. Expenses side this coordination reduced some expenses. Almost every item came in under budget (he shared a handout comparing 1998 Budget to 1998 Expenses to 1997 Expenses). The increase was partially due to the $550 charged for Internee access for the day. The savings were partially due to the coordination with the conference just proceeding ours. Recommendation would be to hand everyone their badges and meal tickets on site to keep better luncheon counts. Terry recommends having the meal in the middle of the Pre-conference to avoid unserved meals. Presidents Reception...exhibitors and others showed up. Overall we were roughly $1700 under budget. Lyn interjected that Terry needs accolades for the organizational efforts and time he put into the coordination, it worked well.

3. Exhibitors by Lyn in absentia for Mike Zeller. This went well, exhibitors were pleased. Lyn has acquired 20 new ones from the Middle School Conference.

4. Registration by Lyn Countryman. Lyn passed around a handout. We had 1037. Most come from nonmembers, a lot of students from small colleges attended thanks to Kären and Jeff sending Advance Programs to those small colleges, which is a future bonus. High School supplies most, then middle, then elementary. 70 people participated in the post-conference which, Lyn felt makes it worthwhile to support. Terry asked about on-site registration numbers...was it really 51? Lyn shared that anyone who got registrations in before. Lyn also commented that she took 70 envelopes home for people who requested reprinted badges. Kären likes the idea of continuing to do a preliminary mailing to communicate any information. Terry shared again he feels we don't have an accurate count of registrants, and that we should consider not sending registration out ahead of time. This is primarily a luncheon and an economic factor. Mark agreed it would be to our benefit to use these numbers to forecast. Bob asked about the attendance numbers, last year we were at 960 this year 1070, we have been as high as 1150. Discussion ensued about what motivates people to attend, remarks about keynote speaker and where NSTA Regionals is located. Bob then asked about having the President's reception in a bar, where there negative comments? Lyn said there were comments pro and con on the surveys. Terry also corrected the breakfast numbers, 20 for staff 60 for Section.

5. Corporate Funding by Tom Ervin. Tom passed around a report sheet handout to compare funds raised between 1995 = $2000, 1996 = $6,600, 1997= $4850, 1998 = $10750, 1999=pending. The funding used to be the role of the ISTS President. As of 1997 Tom has been serving as the Corporate Funding chair. He shared that the IAS is planning to initiate an Endowment Fund to solicit funds from which they ISTS could request funds. Tom had requested the most recent financial statement filed for audit, demographics, information about the IAS organization, list of the board of directors, assurance that no one from the IAS who is a paid employee is also an employee of their corporation from the IAS. Dave McCalley will provide all financial and organizational information to Tom Ervin for Corporate Funding efforts. Kären asked Tom if corporations would be willing to support our ISTS programs and initiatives. Tom also prepared a Conference Keynote History. Tom had promised that names of corporate funding sponsors would be put into the program, and read from the podium. Kären said her information from last year was that it was not done last year, but we would include that in the future. There were signs posted at the luncheon and Tom handed Karen a disk to include an article in the Newsletter sharing information about each corporate sponsor and their donation. Tom requested of Bev, 13 copies of the first official budget document (a ledger piece that shows the money going into the account) that shows these contributions to be able to share with each of the donating corporations. Tom also asked additional contacts be given to him.

6. Kären concluded her report by thanking everyone that participated in this group effort. She also revived the request that had been tabled from the Spring Meeting. Kären moved to appropriate $500 for the 1998 Program Coordinator, Jeff Hepburn year. Erica seconded the motion. Discussion ensued. Bob asked why, Kären responded for his time. Mark asked for a description of the position, to help equate work with pay and to stay in line with the philosophy of equity of other paid conference positions (which is to encourage people to continue in those positions for extended periods). Tom asked if the Bylaws state the Chair of the Fall Conference can offer stipends to 3 coordinators. Jeff suggest curtailing the motion. Bob asked what are the three paid positions now, Lyn replied, Registration Coordinator, Facilities Chair and Exhibitors Chair. Ross suggested that we consider increasing the stipends from 3 to 4 because the conference is getting huge and the Chair needs to feel they have the support. Kären shared that the Wisconsin Chair of the Conference is not an elected officer. The question was called. Verbal vote was too close to discern.. Bob called for a show of hands. By show of hand 5 voted in favor, 4 opposed. President Lyn broke the tie by voting yes. Motion carried.

IV. New Business

A. Bylaws Discussion by Lyn. The Bylaws under discussion were published in the Newsletter. The Bylaws committee was Jeff, Kären and Lyn. Sara questioned whether the President could appoint a voting member of the Executive Board? Lyn said that had not been discussed, it is a good thing to think about. Terry thanked the committee for the time and effort put into this, but asked are a lot of these things to specific to be put in as Bylaws, would they be more appropriate for some other type of document, possibly a document titled Standard Operating Procedures. Lyn thanked Terry for that suggestion and said it will help in their process. This information needs to be published twice more and voted on before final adoption. Terry recommended we dissect items for the Bylaws and for the Standard Operating Procedures. Ross recommended including the IAS Bylaws in our our Section Bylaws. Mark recommended we look for inconsistencies and possible violations of our Bylaws from the IAS Academy Bylaws. The group then read through the document to discern Bylaws from Standard Operating Procedure. Discussion about Article III Section 5 revised the discussion about paying for travel to the the IAS Annual Meeting and to ISTS meetings.

B. Strategic Planning of Reports

1. Definition of Roles - Kären Wignall and Sharon Johnston. Kären reported that it sounds as though they will be writing the Standard Operating Procedure for the organization. They need members. Have none to report today. Sharon encouraged people to give them names and for ex-leaders to volunteer their knowledge.

2. Leadership Development - Bob DeLoss and Bev Inverson. Bob reported that he and Bev worked on this during the summer retreat. Doug Herman, Sioux City East, has volunteered to head this up. Bob shared frustration with getting information about the membership, primarily address and phone information. Brenda said next year this information will be published next year for all members who are willing to publicize this information. Bob wanted to know if the Winter meeting would be a good time and where would funding come from. Lyn replied yes that each Strategic Planning Committee has $500 from the Programing Line Item from the budget.

3. WEB Page - Jeff Hepburn and Ross Iverson. Jeff commended Terry's initiation of the ISTS WEB page and introduced Aaron Spurr of UNI Price Lab School's. Aaron shared they had discussed registration on-line, which would reduce data entry. He has set up an on-line form. Aaron is going to do conference registration on-line, he hopes to get 1/4 of participants registering on-line. He also shared an ISTS WEB dream, links, Fall Conference information, On-Line Newsletter, etc....He wants to create an active web site. Possibly even including ISTS Activities. Registration and presenters forms are set up on-line already and they are testing the site. Aaron wrote the web address and passed it around. Brenda asked if this would still have deadlines. And will this be separate from the IAS. Aaron said it would be hot-linked but separate. Jeff said Aaron would need $3000 at $15 an hour for the year to serve as WEB master. Discussion ensued about where this money would come from and when it is appropriate to add to the budget and whether it's primary function is Academy or Fall Conference. Discussion ensued about accepting credit cards both on-line and on-sight. Lyn and Kären and Brenda will check into this. Ross motioned to hire Aaron Spurr as the ISTS WEB master at a cost of $5000. Darrel seconded the motion. Discussion ensued about whether it would be more appropriate to deal with budget items at the Winter meeting. Also that this exceeds our line item for lots of other things. Terry suggested that some of the money made by the conference be spent on the conference. Sharon commented that as many teachers that are on-line we may get more interest in the organization and in the fall conference. Bev commented that this is a large chunk of money and in programming we had $5000 and this would be a large portion of this, leaving less for the other areas. She suggested we need some think time. Sue asked if it was reasonable to pay him for the time and decide later on the rest. Darrell withdrew his second with the recommendation that we look at his work and discuss this at a future meeting. Motion died for lack of a second.

4. Newsletter - Karen Couch and Sara Coleman. Karen shared the history of the Newsletter as she knew it and said they have worked hard as a committee on lay-out consistency and issue deadlines and timeliness. Prior to Fall Conference, January and Mid-May are the committee Newsletter goals. Tom suggested that Karen create a document to tell new officers of their newsletter responsibilities.

5. Position Papers - Erica Larson, Margaret Sadeghpour-Kramer and Ross Iverson. Erica shared that the survey items were a result of the Summer Retreat Planning and today Lyn shared the tabulated the results. Erica shared that David McCalley introduced her to Joan Duea who is on the Education Committee. Tony Heiting shared that the Governor's Institute Team is also working on Position Papers and strongly encouraged all of these parties to work together and coordinate our efforts. Mark Brockmeyer shared that he is also on the Education Committee. Erica said that this will be a coordinated effort between the ISTS, IAS (both the Position and Planning Committee and the Education Committee), and the Governor's Coalition of Math and Science.

6. Membership - Jane Haugen was not present. Her report was presented at the 1/9/99 meeting and the minutes were amended to include her report. Jane reported that during the Winter Retreat of 1998 her membership sub-committee (consisting of Beverly Iverson, Kathy Lockhard, Rick Wells, Vicki Oswald, Sue Ervin and herself determined to target 5 AEA's each year for the next three years for a membership drive and that ISTS would assist with the IAS membership booth at the Fall Conference. The committee attempted to get a combined letter encouraging membership from the IAS and the ISTS Leadership, only Dave McCalley provided a letter. The committee then asked Brenda for Membership Brochures, and sent the brochures and the cover letter to AEA's 1,6,7,9, and 10. $240 of the $500 available from ISTS Program funds was spent, envelopes were donated by Regency Thermographers of Dubuque, postage for AEA's for elementary was donated and AEA 1 sent the letters out. Jane thanked the following for their help with the Membership Drive: Tony Heiting for the mailing label stickers for 7-12 envelopes, 5 AEA consultants for the labels for K-6 lead teachers and the distribution of the Membership Packet, and Vicki Oswald for stuffing envelopes and sending to 2 AEA Elementary Personal. During the Fall Conference the IAS Membership Booth personnel included: Brenda Janco, Kathy Lockard, Vicki Boss, Margaret Sadgephour-Kramer, Vicki Oswald and Jane Haugen. Jane followed through on all committee directives, all tasks were completed by October 1998 and the membership notebook was turned in to the ISTS Leadership, alerting them of the job completion. Discussion ensued about the fact that Jane took initiative to send a membership letter out with a letter (which many took exception to) from the IAS Executive Director. Jane had $240 which came from the Planning Item of the Budget to pay for part of this process. IAS paid for the printing of the brochures. Lesson learned is that future membership actions should be coordinated between the ISTS and IAS Membership Committees.

C. Election committee. Bob DeLoss reported that he has contacted all of the names of individuals that were given to him. He needs one more candidate to run for President. He asked what his deadline was. Lyn responded January 1st. He has asked for more names. Discussion ensued about photos it was decided not to include photos. Bob has two candidates for secretary.

D. Other. Terry moved that the we request that the Iowa Academy of Science supply a copy of the latest IAS official budget report to the ISTS Treasurer. Seconded by Kären. Motion carried.

V. Future Meetings

A. Winter Meeting - Jan. 9, 1999 at 1407 Catherine Street in Cedar Falls (Lyn's place). Lyn will supply directions.

B. Spring Meeting - April 23 and 24, ISU, Ames, Iowa. Terry made a motion to adjourn. Bev seconded. Meeting adjourned at 2:50 PM.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Erica Larson, ISTS Secretary

ISTS Membership & Executive Board Meeting
April 25, 1998, Mason City, Iowa

Membership Meeting

President Kären Wignall called the General Membership Meeting to order at 12:00 noon.

I. Approval of General Membership Meeting Minutes - Erica Larson

The April 1997 General Membership minutes were read and approved as written.

II. Old Business

Recognition of Past Officers - Kären Wignall
Kären thanked Mike Zeller for all of his efforts and congratulated him on a successful Fall Conference. She also thanked Sara Coleman for putting so much effort into the Newsletter.

III. New Business - Installation of New Officers - Kären Wignall

Lyn Countryman President 1998-1999
Karen Couch Breitbach Newsletter Editor 1998-1999

IV. Meeting was adjourned at 12:20 PM

Executive Board Meeting

Members present: Kären Wignall, Lyn Countryman, Bev Inverson, Erica Larson, Ross Iverson, Jeff Hepburn, Karen Couch Brietbach, Sharon Johnston, Sara Coleman, Cherin Lee, Donna Kitzinger, and Jennifer Williams.

The Meeting was called to order by President Lyn Countryman at 12:22 PM.

I. Approval of Executive Board Meeting Minutes - Erica Larson

The January Winter Retreat Board Meeting Minutes were read and approved as published.

II. Treasurer's Report - Bev Iverson

A. 1998-1999 operating budget was shown on an overhead and discussed. All reimbursements for ISTS must receive prior approval from Lyn, Kären or Bev. Please don't send any reimbursements directly to the IAS office. Ross moved and Erica seconded to approve the 1998-99 budget as proposed in the handout and on the overhead. Motion carried.

1. Travel request was discussed for Executive Board members and Regional Directors to attend required meetings. It was decided to table this discussion for a future meeting.

2. Program Session Scheduling Chair as a paid position was discussed. It was decided to make decisions on this after the conference.

III. Old Business

Evaluating the ISTS Mission Statement - ISTS Advocates for Excellence in Science Education by promoting professionalism, influencing policy and enhancing learning. This Mission Statement has been published in the Newsletter. Kären did not receive any negative responses to the survey she included in the Winter Newsletter. It seems as though the membership has accepted this Mission Statement.

IV. New Business

A. Report from IAS Board Meetings.

B. Committee Reports

1. Elections - Ross Iverson reported that Jeff Hepburn is the newly elected President Elect. A brief discussion about the "invisibility" of the ballot for ISTS when it is mailed with a large IAS mailing. It is requested that future ISTS elections are mailed alone, first class. Lyn will look into this. It was also decided to have a slate of nominees ready for the next Executive Board Meeting (which will be in the fall) to provide the appropriate time scale for collecting candidate information and getting the ballot in a reasonable time. Kären Wignall stated that all Regional Director seats are filled.

2. Membership - request from Jane Haugen by Kären Wignall for a letter and membership brochures to work on this.

3. Ad Hoc Committee - Erica Larson reported the Ross and Bev Iverson hosted the Ad Hoc Committee to meet to work on the beginning documents for a Strategic Plan. The committee held a second meeting to further extend the efforts toward Strategic Planning. The summer retreat focus will be on extending the action plans for each of the areas the committee has decided to focus on. All who are interested in being involved in this process are encouraged to attend and participate.

4. Newsletter - Sara Coleman and Karen Couch Breitbach reported that the newsletter will continue to be published three times a year but the deadlines will be shifted to allow for timely publication. It was pointed out that the Fall Newsletter needed to come out early to remind people to attend the Fall Conference. Discussion ensued about the Newsletter Editor position possibly being extended. This is an area to be discussed at the Summer Retreat during Strategic Planning.

5. Fall Program - Kären Wignall reported that everything is falling into place. She thanked Jeff Hepburn for serving as the Program Chair, Mike Zeller for serving as Exhibitor Chair, Lyn Countryman for serving as Registration Chair, Terry Coleman for serving as Facilities Chair, Tom Ervin for serving as the Fund Raising Chair, Kathy McKee for serving as the Pre and Post Conference Chair, Donna Kitzinger for agreeing to take care of the floral arrangements and Ernie Schiller for agreeing to help with exhibitors registration, Bev Iverson for setting up the bookstore and all of the other Regional Directors and Executive Board members that have so graciously volunteered to help. The title is Science is Contagious Catch It! The key note and most of the featured speakers are lined up and ready to go. The Conference Hotel will again be the Hotel Ft. Des Moines. Lyn Countryman invited everyone to the Raccoon River Brewery for the President's Reception. Programs are being produced in Cedar Falls. Jeff Hepburn said he hopes to have Advanced programs for people to distribute at the Summer Retreat (to help cut down on mailing cost).

C. ISTS Web Site is an item being explored by the Strategic Planning committee.

IAS leadership has requested we pay attention to the fact that they already have a web site. It was discussed that we have every intention of being a link from and to their web site. More information to come as the Strategic Planning Committee works on this vital tool of communication.

D. Special award - John Dunkhase by Kären Wignall. It was decided members should individually consider nominating Professor Dunkhase for awards to honor all he has done for science education. Kären reported that she wished to recognize John Dunkhase for his contributions to science education in Iowa. It was recommended no official action be taken by the Executive Board but that ISTS members should individually consider nominating Professor Dunkhase for awards to honor all he has done for science education.

E. Summer Retreat - July 16-18 at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory .Lyn Countryman encouraged everyone to attend. The time will be spent working on the Strategic Plan. This retreat will replace the Winter Retreat...so our meeting schedule will be Summer Retreat...Fall Executive Board Meeting and Spring Executive Board Meeting during the IAS Annual Conference. The dates for all of these meetings will be determined.

F. Open Discussion - all

V. Adjourn - Lyn Countryman

Minutes respectfully submitted by Erica Larson